My Favorite Musicians/Artists/Bands

Miles Davis (1944 - 1991)




























Simon and Garfunkel (1957 – 1970, 1975, 1981 – 1983, 2003 – 2004)





















Harry Nilsson (1958 - 1994)






























Bob Dylan (1959 - present)




























The Beatles (1960 - 1970)
























The Rolling Stones (1962 - present)


















The Mamas & the Papas (1965 – 1968, 1971 – 1972)




















Black Sabbath (1968 - present)
















Supertramp (1969 - 1988, 1997 – present)

















Queen (1970 - present)























Television (1973 - 1978, 1992 - 1993, 2001 - present)



















Joy Division (1976 - 1980)
















New Order (1980 - 1993, 1998 - 2008)






















Sonic Youth (1981 - present)
























The Smiths (1982 - 1987)























My Bloody Valentine (1984 - 1997, 2007 - present)

















Nirvana (1987 - 1994)





























Massive Attack (1988 - present)





















Slowdive (1989 - 1995)















Tori Amos (1990 - present)


























The Cranberries (1990 - 2003)




















Dave Matthews Band (1991 - present)























Aqua (1994 - 2001, 2007 - present)


























Ivy (1994 - present)


















Cat Power (1995 - present)

















Mogwai (1995 - present)






















Fiona Apple (1996 - present)






















Death Cab for Cutie (1997 - present)
















Sophie Ellis Bextor (1997 - present)



















Doves (1998 - present)


















The Brunettes (1998 - present)

























Electrelane (1998 - 2007)



















Zero 7 (1999 - present)



























Broken Social Scene (1999 - present)

















Goldfrapp (1999 - present)



















The Sounds (1999 - present)



















The Knife (1999 - present)






























Regina Spektor (2001 - present)




















Norah Jones (2001 - present)



















Sally Shapiro (2006 - present)

Children of Men (retrospective thinking)

This is a review indeed strictly for people to reply and argue to.



While Cuaron was attempting to create the perfect specimen of a science fiction movie, did he realize that a science fiction movie needed a good scientific background to push the story through? Where did he take his influences from? Did he acknowledge its inevitable comparison to other films of the science fiction genre which were much more efficient at stretching the imagination of science fiction, the science fiction movies whose stories inspire hundreds of genre variations, the ones that inspire cults and an entire cultural phenomenon? Granted that it can be argued that Cuaron was not trying to make "Star Wars" or "The Terminator," and that Children of Men was only science fiction because it had to be and that it can be acknowledged as something else entirely, I doubt I would be the only person to notice that the notion that the world is coming to an end due to the fact women are infertile is entirely half-baked. I'll explain myself further. I am not trying to imply that the premise that "women are infertile" is a silly science fiction premise, but that in terms of its use of a scientific background to compliment the story, that is about as deep as it gets. Because it doesn't go anywhere after that, we're stuck with the notion that "women are infertile" and uh... even in Batman Beyond: The Animated Series, the scientific background of every story is handled with pretty good sensibility to science fiction mythology, but instead we're reduced to Cuaron beating us over the head with notions of political instability in a future world, in addition to mass hysteria, and you have your science fiction bestseller, I assume. I'm not referring to the fact that the movie did not explain why "women were infertile," but that in order for the movie to serve its purpose, it would probably be something other than trying to wow us with its astute scientific imagination. I assume that by mass trailer advertising in the vein of "in the future, the apocalypse is near, women can no longer have babies, we are all going to die" is capable of attracting couple of millions to the cinema alone, are we to assume that when we actually go watch the movie, we're going to see something that the trailer did not already explain entirely?

During the scene where pictures of Julianne Moore and Clive Owen are plastered over the fireplace with an emotional song playing in the background, and when the camera slides from one picture to the next depicting their long lost period of joy and grace when they had each other, when they were anarchists together, um..... is that an excuse for a perfect flashback moment? Do you really think that Bogart and Bergman would still have a job in Hollywood after the year 1942 if that can be so effectively accomplished? Basically all Cuaron is telling us from that scene, oh yes, the song helps, is that "Julie and Clivey fought baddies together not so long ago, when they were both young and naive, and they both had hate in their hearts for the government. Please, about the only purpose that that scene served was to tell us that "they used to be something special together." How is it that from one scene, we already know everything about these two characters? I'm going to assume that facets of Julianne's character profile that we didn't know about are more interesting than Clive's, because now knowing everything about Clive, I can safely say I can't imagine a more disinteresting character. To sum it up, the movie had no character development, none, and it doesn't take a genius to realize that.

I have a hard time understanding how Michael Caine made time in the trailer, because other than comedy relief, his wise mouth half-baked philosophical analyzing of global armageddon is the only reason for his existence at all. He does nothing except fill a few dialogue pages with his so unbelievably stereotypical character. I also do not know why in all Cuaron's movies, a totally unsettling death always happens in the end. Even though Y tu mama tambien is not a bad movie, I never was a fan of the ending, I thought that there was little reason for why Luisa had to die, ok maybe Cuaron was trying to imply that life is indeed beautiful, and that we should appreciate the miracle of life, but in Children of Men, Clive Owens' "hero must die" death just felt so entirely surreal. I was aware of the gun wound, but it just seemed awkward to me the way he dropped dead on the spot, like Cuaron was trying to imply something differently, like "his heart just gave out" or something. I'm aware that it was trying to be faithful to its source. I'm not really addressing the fact that he died as much as I am trying to understand the ambiguity of the last scene. I'll gladly lend an ear to anyone would thinks they know this.

Also, I fail to see really what was so impressive about that 10 minute tracking shot. I hope people notice that that shot felt so unnatural in co ordinance with the movie; like Owen had to go through a maze to reach his touchdown point and that the maze just happened to be there. It was a scene that Cuaron would have put in if it cost him his dear life. Why? Because it looks goddamn good, and profitable too. If it took 4 million for the destruction, 3 million for the tanks, 1 million to pay the extras, and 3 million of extra money in case they have to do it again, it only adds up to 11 million, which giving it 15 seconds in the trailer, it would've made the money back already within 20 minutes of the trailer's initial release. I suppose people are entranced by the way it looks like the "ultimate emotional montage of humanity," but at that moment, having not cared for a single character or have been amazed at its revolutionary science fiction, that scene was entirely useless to me. Clive Owen's heroics depicted so beautifully, his incredible dodging of grenades and gunfire, and him forcing his half-limping body across falling debris is all good.... it's trailer footage.

So, in conclusion, half baked politics, half baked science fiction, little character development makes for a good B movie, but 10 minutes of tanks shooting at Clive Owen as an excuse to depict "beautiful violence" does not cheer a song for humanity nor will it make me cry, otherwise Von Trier would've done that already with Dancer in the Dark. And I realize that because it looks mature and emotional, it will always have a good reputation, but just because it looks emotional does not make it so. There's not an easier movie to criticize, I can assure you.

What movie can I watch more times and not get bored?

7 times vs. 10 times.

Vain competition, really.

Top 10 Performances of 2007

Bear with me, I haven't been enthusiastic enough to care about anything recently, but here ya go...., wet your teeth with this piece of juicy artwork.

2000-2006

2006
1. Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola)
2. Miami Vice (Michael Mann)
3. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (Spike Lee)
4. Time (Kim Ki-duk)
5. A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater)
6. The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky)
7. Paprika (Satoshi Kon)
8. Inland Empire (David Lynch)
9. Renaissance (Christian Volckman)
10. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)

2005
1. The New World (Terrence Malick)
2. Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
3. Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (Zhang Yimou)
4. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)
5. Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog)
6. Match Point (Woody Allen)
7. March of the Penguins (Luc Jacquet)
8. Land of the Dead (George A. Romero)
9. Cache (Michael Haneke)
10. L'Enfant (Jean-Pierre/Luc Dardenne)

2004
1. 2046 (Wong Kar-wai)
2. Collateral (Michael Mann)
3. Paranoia Agent (Satoshi Kon)
4. The World (Jia Zhang Ke)
5. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)
6. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (Wes Anderson)
7. 3-Iron (Kim Ki-duk)
8. Mysterious Skin (Gregg Araki)
9. Clean (Olivier Assayas)
10. Howl's Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki)

2003
1. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola)
2. Mystic River (Clint Eastwood)
3. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (Kim Ki-duk)
4. Elephant (Gus Van Sant)
5. All the Real Girls (David Gordon Green)
6. Last Life in the Universe (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang)
7. Jeux d'enfants (Yann Samuell)
8. Thirteen (Catherine Hardwicke)
9. Purple Butterfly (Lou Ye)
10. Cafe Lumiere (Hou Hsiao-hsien)

2002
1. Far from Heaven (Todd Haynes)
2. Catch Me If You Can (Steven Spielberg)
3. Hero (Zhang Yimou)
4. Lilya 4-ever (Lukas Moodysson)
5. Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson)
6. The Pianist (Roman Polanski)
7. Russian Ark (Aleksandr Sokurov)
8. Unknown Pleasures (Jia Zhang Ke)
9. Friday Night (Claire Denis)
10. Minority Report (Steven Spielberg)

2001
1. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg)
2. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)
3. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch)
4. Millenium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
5. Y tu mamá también (Alfonso Cuarón)
6. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (Shinichirô Watanabe)
7. In the Bedroom (Todd Field)
8. Beijing Bicycle (Wang Xiaoshuai)
9. Sex and Lucia (Julio Medem)
10. Nowhere in Africa (Caroline Link)

2000
1. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai)
2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
3. Gladiator (Ridley Scott)
4. Vertical Ray of the Sun (Anh Hung Tran)
5. Platform (Jia Zhang Ke)
6. You Can Count on Me (Kenneth Lonergan)
7. Yi yi (Edward Yang)
8. The Goddess of 1967 (Clara Law)
9. Suzhou River (Lou Ye)
10. Traffic (Steven Soderbergh)

No, these are my favorite movies

1. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
2. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
3. 2046 (Wong Kar-wai, 2004)
4. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
5. Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
6. Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)
7. Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)
8. L'Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934)
9. L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)
10. Cinema Paradiso [full version] (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)
11. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
12. Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968)
13. Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953)
14. Brief Encounter (David Lean, 1945)
15. La Dolce vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)
16. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
17. Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
18. North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
19. Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987)
20. Sunset Blvd. (Billy Wilder, 1950)
21. The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)
22. Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki, 1997)
23. Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)
24. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
25. Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1982)
26. Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954)
27. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001)
28. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
29. Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola, 2006)
30. Miami Vice (Michael Mann, 2006)
31. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
32. Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)
33. Ugetsu monotagari (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953)
34. Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955)
35. Hiroshima mon amour (Alain Resnais, 1959)
36. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
37. Fanny och Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982)
38. Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou, 1991)
39. Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)
40. Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946)
41. Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)
42. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Philip Kaufman, 1988)
43. Kiki's Delivery Service (Hayao Miyazaki, 1989)
44. The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980)
45. Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)
46. 8½ (Federico Fellini, 1963)
47. The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
48. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
49. Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995)
50. The Insider (Michael Mann, 1999)
51. The Last of the Mohicans (Michael Mann, 1992)
52. The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005)
53. Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2005)
54. Far from Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002)
55. Wuthering Heights (William Wyler, 1939)
56. Dawn of the Dead (George A. Romero, 1978)
57. Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979)
58. Solyaris (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972)
59. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
60. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
61. The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick, 1998)
62. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
63. Scenes from a Marriage (Ingmar Bergman, 1973)
64. Late Spring "Banshun" (Yasujiro Ozu, 1949)
65. Letter from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophüls, 1948)

2006 (Maybe final list)

2006
1. Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola)
2. Miami Vice (Michael Mann)
3. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (Spike Lee)
4. Time (Kim Ki-duk)
5. A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater)
6. The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky)
7. Paprika (Satoshi Kon)
8. Inland Empire (David Lynch)
9. Renaissance (Christian Volckman)
10. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)

2006

2006
1. Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola)
2. Miami Vice (Michael Mann)
3. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (Spike Lee)
4. A Scanner Darkly (Richard Linklater)
5. The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky)
6. Paprika (Satoshi Kon)
7. Inland Empire (David Lynch)
8. Renaissance (Christian Volckman)
9. Pan's Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro)
10. Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón)

2005 + 2000

Redux:

2005
1. The New World (Terrence Malick)
2. Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
3. Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (Zhang Yimou)
4. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)
5. Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog)
6. Match Point (Woody Allen)
7. March of the Penguins (Luc Jacquet)
8. Land of the Dead (George A. Romero)
9. Cache (Michael Haneke)
10. L'Enfant (Jean-Pierre/Luc Dardenne)

2000
1. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai)
2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
3. Gladiator (Ridley Scott)
4. Vertical Ray of the Sun (Anh Hung Tran)
5. Platform (Jia Zhang Ke)
6. You Can Count on Me (Kenneth Lonergan)
7. Yi yi (Edward Yang)
8. Suzhou River (Lou Ye)
9. Quills (Philip Kaufman)
10. Traffic (Steven Soderbergh)

2006: Friday

2000

2000
1. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai)
2. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee)
3. Gladiator (Ridley Scott)
4. Vertical Ray of the Sun (Anh Hung Tran)
5. Platform (Jia Zhang Ke)
6. You Can Count on Me (Kenneth Lonergan)
7. Yi yi (Edward Yang)
8. Traffic (Steven Soderbergh)
9. Quills (Philip Kaufman)
10. Almost Famous (Cameron Crowe)

2006: Friday

2002

2002
1. Far from Heaven (Todd Haynes)
2. Catch Me If You Can (Steven Spielberg)
3. Hero (Zhang Yimou)
4. Lilya 4-ever (Lukas Moodysson)
5. Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson)
6. The Pianist (Roman Polanski)
7. Russian Ark (Aleksandr Sokurov)
8. Unknown Pleasures (Jia Zhang Ke)
9. Friday Night (Claire Denis)
10. Minority Report (Steven Spielberg)

Don't wait up for 00 and 06. Might be an eternity

2001

2001
1. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg)
2. Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki)
3. Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch)
4. Millenium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
5. Y tu mamá también (Alfonso Cuarón)
6. Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (Shinichirô Watanabe)
7. In the Bedroom (Todd Field)
8. Beijing Bicycle (Wang Xiaoshuai)
9. Sex and Lucia (Julio Medem)
10. Nowhere in Africa (Caroline Link)

Next: 2000, 2002, 2006 (Next week)

2003

2003
1. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola)
2. Mystic River (Clint Eastwood)
3. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (Kim Ki-duk)
4. Elephant (Gus Van Sant)
5. All the Real Girls (David Gordon Green)
6. Last Life in the Universe (Pen-Ek Ratanaruang)
7. Jeux d'enfants (Yann Samuell)
8. Thirteen (Catherine Hardwicke)
9. Purple Butterfly (Lou Ye)
10. Cafe Lumiere (Hou Hsiao-hsien)

2004

2004
1. 2046 (Wong Kar-wai)
2. Paranoia Agent (Satoshi Kon)
3. Collateral (Michael Mann)
4. The World (Jia Zhang Ke)
5. Before Sunset (Richard Linklater)
6. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (Wes Anderson)
7. 3-Iron (Kim Ki-duk)
8. Mysterious Skin (Gregg Araki)
9. Clean (Olivier Assayas)
10. Howl's Moving Castle (Hayao Miyazaki)

Tomorrow: 2003 and maybe 2001

Top 10 Series

I have made new, and improved top 10s of 2000-2006. Unfortunately, 2006 is still under construction, so I shall start at 2005. (2002 will not be decided until the next week or two)

2005
1. The New World (Terrence Malick)
2. Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
3. Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (Zhang Yimou)
4. Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee)
5. Grizzly Man (Werner Herzog)
6. Match Point (Woody Allen)
7. March of the Penguins (Luc Jacquet)
8. Do You Like Hitchcock? (Dario Argento)
9. Cache (Michael Haneke)
10. L'Enfant (Jean-Pierre/Luc Dardenne)

Tomorrow: 2003

Watched Koyaanisqatsi three times

Except for that completely irregular 5 second scene with the row of fat ladies in orange suits, you'd have pretty much a near flawless movie.

This one:

Favorite Films

1. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
2. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
3. Lost in Translation (Sofia Coppola, 2003)
4. Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
5. 2046 (Wong Kar-wai, 2004)
6. Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)
7. Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984)
8. L'Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934)
9. L'Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960)
10. Cinema Paradiso [full version] (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)
11. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
12. Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968)
13. Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953)
14. Brief Encounter (David Lean, 1945)
15. La Dolce vita (Federico Fellini, 1960)
16. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)
17. Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
18. North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
19. Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987)
20. Sunset Blvd. (Billy Wilder, 1950)
21. The Rules of the Game (Jean Renoir, 1939)
22. Princess Mononoke (Hayao Miyazaki, 1997)
23. Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch, 1984)
24. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
25. Koyaanisqatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1982)
26. Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954)
27. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Steven Spielberg, 2001)
28. Paranoia Agent [series] (Satoshi Kon, 2004)
29. Marie Antoinette (Sofia Coppola, 2006)
30. Miami Vice (Michael Mann, 2006)
31. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
32. Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)
33. Ugetsu monotagari (Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953)
34. Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955)
35. Hiroshima mon amour (Alain Resnais, 1959)
36. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
37. Fanny och Alexander (Ingmar Bergman, 1982)
38. Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou, 1991)
39. Chungking Express (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)
40. Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920)
41. Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946)
42. Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)
43. The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Philip Kaufman, 1988)
44. Kiki's Delivery Service (Hayao Miyazaki, 1989)
45. The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980)
46. 8½ (Federico Fellini, 1963)
47. The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
48. Wuthering Heights (William Wyler, 1939)
49. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
50. The Insider (Michael Mann, 1999)
51. The Last of the Mohicans (Michael Mann, 1992)
52. Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995)
53. The New World (Terrence Malick, 2005)
54. Three Times (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2005)
55. Far from Heaven (Todd Haynes, 2002)
56. Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979)
57. Solyaris (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972)
58. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
59. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
60. Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)
61. The Thin Red Line (Terrence Malick, 1998)
62. Scenes from a Marriage (Ingmar Bergman, 1973)
63. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
64. Late Spring "Banshun" (Yasujiro Ozu, 1949)
65. Letter from an Unknown Woman (Max Ophüls, 1948)

Things on my mind:

1. There's exactly 2 months left in this semester.

2. I want out of this school.

3. Wait for my top list in a week.

4. I want to.... experience.

5. I want.... a life changing moment.

Sad.....

Why does Chow love Miss Wang so much?

Whoever knows the answer to that question has figured out life's mystery of love.